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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386722">If the sky can crack there must be some way back (for love and only love)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin'>The_Plaid_Slytherin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath of Torture, Bathing/Washing, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post - A Dance With Dragons, Reunions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:49:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,682</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386722</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Davos waits in the dark; Stannis finds him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Stannis Baratheon/Davos Seaworth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Chocolate Box - Round 6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>If the sky can crack there must be some way back (for love and only love)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/coaldustcanary/gifts">coaldustcanary</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Davos lifted his head, as he had at every noise since he'd arrived in the Dreadfort's dungeon. A noise usually heralded the arrival of his tormentor. It had not been Ramsay Snow himself for a few weeks now, and Davos suspected something was about to happen, for immediately before his departure, he'd worked twice as hard to extract information about Stannis's movements from Davos.</p><p>Davos had none of this information, too long had been their separation. This had mattered little for he wouldn't have divulged it if he'd had it, and the Bastard of Bolton no doubt would have tortured him anyway. </p><p>He blinked furiously, as though he might suddenly be able to see in the darkness. A light was approaching, and he tensed. The Bastard's Boys who remained at the Dreadfort were no less brutal than their ringleader, and Davos had come to dread the light. </p><p>The torch swung, shadows dancing in its wake as its bearer scanned the darkness. </p><p>"Your Grace?" said a voice. The rest was indistinct. </p><p>So he was delirious now. A time or two, Davos had fancied he'd heard Stannis's voice, but it had been nothing but a trick of the mind. He would certainly not be fooled into calling out to him again, as he had following a dream in which Stannis was held in the next cell. </p><p>But he had never dreamt or imagined anyone speaking to Stannis. </p><p>"He could be here for all we know," Stannis said, and Davos pushed himself to a half sitting position. His shoulder protested; he'd spent too much of the day before with his arms shackled over his head. He opened his mouth to say something, but the sound that came out was frightfully small. Stannis's torch swept the dungeon and his eyes swam as he saw him. </p><p>"Sire," he croaked. </p><p>"Davos." Stannis thrust his torch into the arms of a bewildered Ser Andrew Estermont. He looked about frantically; Davos had never seen him move so impulsively. Finally, he spotted the keys and crossed the room in two strides, fumbling with them in his haste to get them in the lock. </p><p>"Sire," Davos said again, unsure of what else to say. </p><p>Stannis pulled the door open and was on his knees next to Davos in an instant. His hand shook as he raised it to Davos's hair. Davos closed his eyes. Stannis had never touched him like this and he could not help leaning into it as Stannis stroked his hair. </p><p>"Sire," he said for a third time. </p><p>"Hush," Stannis said, "don't try to talk." </p><p>The spell seemed to have been broken with this; Stannis turned back to Andrew. "Go ahead and make sure there is a room fit for Lord Davos's repose. Leave the torch in a bracket so we may see. And if there is still a servant alive in this place, have them draw a bath." </p><p>Andrew hurried to obey; Davos was still processing what must have happened. </p><p>"You met the Bastard in battle?" he asked. "And won?" </p><p>"Yes." That was all the energy Stannis would devote to what was perhaps the most important matter: the state of his campaign for the throne. "Come. Let us get you up." He slipped Davos's arm about his own neck, and stood slowly. Davos's knee buckled; his pain was not so great as to make him think something was broken, but the man in whose charge he'd been left seemed to think regular and vigorous beatings would force knowledge he didn't have into Davos's head. </p><p>Davos also allowed for the possibility that he may have provoked the Bolton man by making certain assumptions about what their desperation to extract information about Stannis's movements implied about the direction of the war. He had certainly not been a pliant and obedient prisoner during his stay. </p><p>"Here," Stannis said. He urged both of Davos's arms around his neck, and worked his hands behind Davos's knees. Oh, even in this state, he could not let Stannis carry him like a new bride.</p><p>"Sire, I—" </p><p>"Do not appear able to stand and walk. I can think of no more expedient way to get you to comfort. I am sure you do not wish to remain here." </p><p>Without even waiting for an answer, Stannis carried Davos out of the cell and began to mount the stairs. There were more torches to light their way and he had a chance to study Stannis's face. It was thin, but not too thin, and no less grim for having apparently won his Northern campaign. </p><p>"Did the young Lord Stark reach you?" </p><p>"Yes. It was through the Wildling woman that we knew where to find you."</p><p>Davos nodded, pressing his face into Stannis's chest. He didn't like that he had failed in his mission, though he didn't get the sense that Stannis blamed him at all. </p><p>"They got to Winterfell after the battle. We prevailed, Davos. And they killed Wyman Manderley before he could tell me you were not dead." A dark cast came over Stannis's face. "It is fortunate the woman Osha arrived before I marched on White Harbor." </p><p>Even with his exhausted nerves, Davos shivered. "Sire, you mustn't—" He pressed his shortened fingers to the back of Stannis's neck, enjoying the warm solidity of him, the close-shorn hairs under his fingertips.  </p><p>"Well, I <i>didn't</i>," he spat. He maneuvered them into a room indicated by a maid and sat Davos on the foot of the bed. "Now you must tell me what has happened to you, though it is not hard to guess." </p><p>Davos would have objected to the king, of all people, undressing him if not for the fact that the warm tub was so tempting. Stannis made short work of his tattered clothes, clucking under his breath as he saw the extent of Davos's injuries. </p><p>"Nothing that won't heal," Davos said, his teeth beginning to chatter from having lost his last bit of protection from the cold. Even with the roaring fire in the grate and the proximity of the bath, it was still winter in the North. </p><p>Stannis lifted him into the bath before Davos could even say he would try to stand. He blinked for a moment, acclimating to the heavenly feeling of the water on his aching muscles before he registered that Stannis was rubbing soap into his hair. </p><p>"You did not seem as though you could lift your arms above your head," he explained, and Davos allowed himself to enjoy Stannis's fingers rubbing against his scalp, the glimpse of his thick arms afforded by his rolled-up sleeves. He closed his eyes.</p><p>And somehow, with Stannis so near and doing such an intimate service for him, it made it easier to tell him what had happened. He began with White Harbor, then Skagos, then their return, and how they had been ambushed. </p><p>His voice shook as he described what he'd been subjected to; he didn't want to appear weak before Stannis, but as Stannis had moved to washing his back, he didn't think it mattered. He leaned into the touch, not even bothering to be ashamed at the grayness of the water. Stannis couldn't possibly expect him to have bathed before his arrival.</p><p>"I told them nothing," he said, voice only trembling a bit. </p><p>Stannis poured a pan of clean water over his back. "You knew nothing. I am going to rinse your hair now."</p><p>Davos closed his eyes as the warmth spread over him, seeming even to extend to inside him. By the time he had pushed his wet hair away from his face, Stannis had appeared with several towels. He helped Davos up once again, no matter that Davos was wet and Stannis had managed to remain mostly dry. </p><p>Davos lifted a leg, demonstrating his instance at walking now, and with Stannis's help, he made it back to the bed. He managed to dry himself and pull the shirt over his head, while Stannis sat beside him to dry his hair. </p><p>He felt more himself after his bath, though he was just as keenly aware of Stannis's slow methodical work with the towel. </p><p>"I do not intend to let you go to bed with wet hair and catch a chill," he explained unnecessarily. </p><p>Though, perhaps, Davos thought, his head clearer now as he tore off a piece of bread from the tray on the bed beside them, Stannis wanted to prolong their nearness. Why else would his fingers keep brushing Davos's neck or his hand land on his shoulder? </p><p>This was far more care than Davos had ever given himself, but he was not about to send Stannis away. </p><p>"I thought of you," Stannis said to the back of Davos's head. </p><p>"Sire?" </p><p>He thought Stannis might have become flustered, but he became more firm. "Every day, Davos. I thought of you. Even when I thought…" His voice shook. He had never heard Stannis's voice shake. "Even when I thought you were dead."</p><p>"I'm not dead." </p><p>"I can see that." Stannis lowered his towel. "I came here right when I heard you weren't." </p><p>"And I thought of you, sire. Every day." </p><p>Stannis's arms descending around his shoulders weren't a shock, nor was Stannis's hesitant shift closer. He let out a contented noise. "I had thought of doing this," he confessed. "Every day since I heard you were alive." </p><p>Feeling more resolute with the chill finally leaving his extremities, Davos turned. "This is what I had though of doing," he said, watching Stannis's face color. "Every day." And he kissed him. </p><p>He had long prided him on telling Stannis that which he needed to hear, and if Stannis was going to do all that he'd done for Davos this night, and <i>not</i> kiss him, it was one more liberty Davos would take upon himself.</p><p>Stannis's kiss was slow and gentle; Davos supposed at some point when he wasn't regarded as fragile, they would have to see about something more vigorous. This suited him well for now, as Stannis cupped his cheek and kissed him again. </p><p>And again. </p><p>He would be satisfied with this.</p>
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